Do you believe in mer people COMPLETE

Chapter 8: Memories

By the time Yibo snapped out of it, he was already in front of his house. Zhan was a merman and they knew each other long ago. Yibo could tell he wasn't so young back then. He was around 17 or 18 years yet he could only recall fragments of those memories. It seemed he only lost memories related to Xiao Zhan.

Yibo lay in his bed for hours, thinking about his experience with Zhan. He remembered he had a way of calling on Zhan back then but he could not recall how. Zhan left without saying a word which left Yibo feeling uneasy. Now more than ever, he wanted to talk to Xiao Zhan, he wanted to hold him and run his hands over that silky skin. He had a gut feeling that despite the big news he found out today, there was more Zhan was hiding. He wanted to know why and he wanted to know what Zhan was hiding.

Normally, a person would be scared to come across such a sight but Yibo felt the complete opposite. Whenever he was with Zhan, he felt happy. He felt complete. He felt Zhan was a puzzle and his happiness was tied to him solving that puzzle. Soon, Yibo remembered his mum. She seemed to have a firm faith in the existence of merpeople. If he was fortunate enough to meet one, there were chances that others may have met one too. He suspected his mum had met one, after all she had spent more time in the sea than he had.

"Mum, how do you know merpeople exist?", Yibo's question completely took his mother unawares. Yibo had never had any sort of interest in this topic. Why was he suddenly asking.

"Yibo, why are you suddenly asking this?", he was helping her sort their catch for the day as they spoke. His father was still out with others, trying to round up for the day.

"Have you met one of them before? You believe in them a lot and it got me thinking".

"Ah, Yibo, don't take my words too seriously. Of course I haven't met anyone. I just believed in them as a kid and grew up that way. I know my beliefs are a bit strange but there is no basis to it. Don't dwell too much on it". Yibo couldn't tell she was hiding something or not. She usually avoided eye contact when she had something to hide and from the moment Yibo began to question her, she hadn't looked him in the eyes.

"Mum please tell me the truth. I'm asking you because I met one today. I met a merman today". Yibo didn't fail to notice her flinch. She turned to look at him with a certain warmth in her eyes.

.............................................

Xiao Zhan swam home as quickly as he could. He felt he had overstepped. The more he tried to stay away from Yibo, the more Yibo tried to get closer to him. Meeting him a few times was not enough to trigger his memories and Zhan knew it. As a matter of fact, once one's memory is wiped, they hardly remembered except in a few cases. Something must have gone wrong.

Zhan remembered his uncle's threats. His uncle hated humans so badly and tried his best to avoid them. Uncle Jiang was powerful enough to cause waves so huge that it could flood a whole city. He had never witnessed his uncle's prowess but word got around. There was a rumor that years ago, his uncle encountered humans who wanted to harm merpeople for their curiousity and his uncle submerged the place where they set up camp, forcing them to leave and never return. He couldn't bear to be the reason Yibo and his people were endangered.

Xiao Zhan remembered the look on Yibo's face when he found out he was a merman. It wasn't one of fear or apprehension. It looked more like Yibo was surprised in a pleasant way. Yibo also looked relieved, as if he had figured something out. Zhan wanted to go back up, he wanted to see Yibo but he couldn't bear to do so. Being apart from him while he was at arm's length was even more difficult to bear than when Yibo was away, without memories of him. If Yibo could recall his memories completely, maybe there could be a way out for them.

A way out? They way clearly of different races. Back then, they were both kids. He was sure Yibo had grown. He had even gotten married. Even if it turned out that Yibo could tolerate the fact that he was a merman, that didn't necessarily mean Yibo would want to be with one.

If by some miracle Yibo decided to be with him, how would that even play out? Yibo couldn't live under water and merpeople couldn't stay long on land although he seemed to be different. He loved the feel of the sun on his skin and he could stay out of water indefinitely. Back when Yibo left, Zhan had left the water and stayed in their meeting place. He stayed there for months until his uncle dragged him back. He was fine. Even his powerful uncle couldn't stay out of water for too long. Zhan knew he was different from others.

Zhan had always been taught to avoid humans as they were bad people but he had only encountered one his entire life and that one person completely changed his perception of humans. He often came to the surface and apart from taking their fish and occasionally taking their shells, humans didn't seem so bad. It seemed everything he was told was a...lie.

Zhan felt a burning urge to explore. He had seen all that could be seen under the sea and now he wanted to roam about on the surface. He heard the surface was large and he wanted to see all that he could. He wanted to do all of this with...Yibo. Zhan had tossed and turned all night, trying to convince himself that he and Yibo couldn't be together but he only ended up convincing himself of how much he needed Yibo. What was he to do?